> CNN's Lou Dobbs Brings his Influential "Moneyline" Show to The Anderson School

October 17, 2002

CNN's Lou Dobbs Brings his Influential "Moneyline" Show to The Anderson School

Dean Willison and Prof. Lewin Share their Expertise in Business Ethics with a Global Audience

After weeks of planning and two days of production set-up, the school’s Alumni Plaza was turned into an outdoor television studio on Oct. 17, as Lou Dobbs brought his show, CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Moneyline,” to UCLA Anderson for a live broadcast.

UCLA Anderson faculty, staff and MBA students gathered for the broadcast, which included a segment on business ethics featuring Dean Bruce Willison and Professor David Lewin, Neil Jacoby Chair in Management. Dean Willison and Prof. Lewin discussed what business schools are doing to address the issue of ethics in business and how UCLA Anderson is incorporating ethics into the MBA curriculum.

Dobbs was on the west coast as part of “Moneyline’s” On the Road series, which included show broadcasts from Long Beach, Hollywood, San Diego and Las Vegas. The live broadcast from The Anderson School was the respected program’s first ever from a business school campus.

“We’re honored that CNN’s ‘Lou Dobbs Moneyline’ chose UCLA Anderson for their broadcast,” said Dean Willison. “This was a wonderful opportunity for students to learn from one of the leading business journalists in the world.”

The show also featured a segment on the thoughts and activities of undergraduate students at UCLA, which was reported by CNN Correspondent Peter Viles. The segment included interviews with several UCLA undergraduates and UCLA Assistant Provost John Sandbrook of the College of Letters and Science.

One last-minute guest was the Honorable Gray Davis, governor of California, who came to UCLA Anderson for a live interview with Dobbs. During the segment, Dobbs questioned Gov. Davis about the state’s trillion-dollar economy, record budget deficit, the energy crisis and his bitter gubernatorial race with Republican challenger Bill Simon. Simon was also invited to participate on the show, but declined the opportunity.

“Lou Dobbs Moneyline” is CNN’s signature business show and one of the most watched economic-themed television programs on the air. While the program still closely monitors the financial markets, its focus, according to executive producer Bill Dorman, has expanded recently to include more political news and global developments.

Dobbs explained the programming changes in responding to a question during an interactive segment in which Dobbs ventured into the audience of 300 to solicit the views of UCLA Anderson students. The question posed to Dobbs was “whether the new focus on business ethics and its growing controversy would lead to more political changes, perhaps the revitalization of issues like campaign finance reform, and other issues where politics and business converge in the public forum.”

Dobbs responded by saying, “…we focus on what we call the political economy, because the relationship between economics and politics is inextricable. Business and public policy, whether it be taxation, whether it be regulation, whether it be consumer safety, or whether it be environmental regulation, market integrity, corporate governance, all come together, often the confluence of politics and public policy and commerce and business and markets.

“So, yes, I think there is going to be significant changes as a result of everything that we have gone through. It’s critical that we understand that relationship, so we focus on the ethics of politics as well as the ethics in business, and I would urge all of you here to look upon our economy as the political economy. The standards for both politics and economics and business, I think, should be the same, the highest.”

Lou Dobbs, anchor and managing editor of CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Moneyline,” has a longstanding relationship with UCLA Anderson. He is a final judge of The Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, which have been presented annually by UCLA Anderson since 1973.

“This was a significant event for UCLA Anderson,” said Associate Dean Richard Rodner, who has worked on several projects with Dobbs and CNN (Dobbs was host of the most recent Loeb Awards and also narrator of a new UCLA Anderson informational video). “We’re honored that CNN asked us to host the broadcast, which demonstrated the respect they have for our dean, faculty, students and MBA programs.”